Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The Great Southpaw Hope, pt V: Marc Rzepczynski

First, they gave us David Purcey. The flame throwing ginger had his moments of dominance (notably against the Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays), but ultimately, had no clue where the ball was headed when it left his confused left hand. The verdict? Fail, for now.

Next, the much maligned Ricardo Romero joined the rotation. It doesn't take Judge Wapner (or maybe Judge Joe Brown for the kids out there) to decide that case. Win, boners, etc. You get the picture.

We've had a few (mostly sour) tastes of Franchise Cecil and the allegedly gutsy Brad Mills (who, coincidentally, has a mysterious case of bruised ribs after dominating in his last AAA start). It's far too early to render a decision on these kids - cases remanded.

Next up, Marc Rzepczyncrosbystillsnashandyoungczepczynski. Or Rzepczynski for short. Let's just go with R-Zep.

Full disclosure, I've had a minor-league man-crush on R-Zep for a few seasons - he's one of those guys who seems to put up good numbers as he advances through the system, but fails to garner the attention or respect he might possibly deserve for a variety of reasons:

Reason #1: "He's too old for the level he's pitching in."As one of those notorious Ricciardi draft "polished college arms", this may have been true early in his pro career. But in 2009, we're talking about a 23 year old pitcher succeeding at the upper levels of the minor leagues. So fuck that reason.

Reason #2:"He lacks a true out pitch."I'm not a professional baseball scout (can you tell?), but the following '09 numbers indicate to me that R-Zep is missing enough bats: 88IP, 104K. Get the hell out of town, Reason #2.

Reason #3: "His name is too difficult to spell in order to sustain a successful major league career."OK, so I made that one up, but I said "variety of reasons", so I couldn't very well end with just two factors working against him. Besides, it's not that hard....R-Zep-czyn-ski. Dig it.

Turning serious for a minute, there are some warning signs, like 40BB in 88 minor league innings this season, so control could be an issue (please, not Purcey 2.0...). But offsetting that is the fact that R-Zep is an extreme ground ball pitcher, and playing behind the Jays' superior infield defense will be a huge benefit that he wouldn't have received in the minors. He's also not going to blow his high 80's/low 90's fastball past major league hitters, so he's going to have to spot the pitch accordingly (read: down in the zone) and throw his breaking stuff for strikes.

Baseball Prospectus (buy it - trust me on this) calls him a "lefty starter with a bowling-ball sinker, a good curve, and a decent change that also sinks, making it nearly impossible for hitters to get the ball in the air off him." Boners.

Bottom line - I'm excited about Marc Rzepczynski. And if Carlos Pena hits a Werthian blast off him in his debut....then free Fabio Castro, The Great Southpaw Hope, pt VI!

I'm excited about R-Zep's debut, much like I was all the other kids' debuts. But I'll be honest, I'm still gushing about Shaun Marcum's rehab start down in Dunedin. It might lead to one of those four-hour boners. Crazy.

And I'm confident that the emancipation of Buck Coats will occur soon. Dellucci shouldn't be in the big leagues, and while Bautista played the field like a fucking rudey yesterday afternoon, I'm all for a Buck/Jose platoon.

The repeated use of "boners" in this entry tells me that "the Ack" is doing his best to get the homoerotic juices flowing on this blog while Tao is way. Go big boy, go. You're really original. Why don't you go write for the DJF?

This GD team is 16 out of 32 teams in spending. If we want to compete we can't bank on the Rays method. The market is as big as Chi-town at least and should spend accordingly.

I'm committed to becoming a fair weather fan if JP kills us with this potential move. I think we all know where the Doc would land, and that makes me sick or at least willing to drink...heavily.

I hate being emotional about this, but the move honestly could rank pretty high in the list of dumbest moves ever considered. It's a business, but the fact is the Doc is the only commodity selling tickets. See attendance - when Doc pitches compared to ANYONE else on the staff.

Aggravated that national Jays news in the US, is Doc moving news. Fuk.